Spy Sorge,
a movie about the spy Richard Sorge who
informs the Soviet Union that Japan doesn't intend to
join Germany in a joint invasion of the Soviet Union
during World War II, was a production primed for a international
release from the get go. Given a rather generous budget,
and starring English speaking actor Iain Glen in the
title role, the film and plot seemed like the perfect
spring board to get foreign distributors interested.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Internationally the
movie was ignored while domestically, in Japan, audiences
didn't seem smitten by the concept either, leading to
one of the biggest financial disasters Toho has
been involved with since the turn of the century. The
movie certainly wouldn't be the last from the company
that would be produced with foreign distribution in mind
only to fail to achieve this; one could argue the
similarly budgeted Godzilla:
Final Wars (2004) suffered
the same fate. However, Spy Sorge is particularly
disheartening due to the many efforts made to make it
more appealing to foreign audiences. Part of this is
the score that was composed for the movie. Helmed by
international favorite Shinichiro Ikebe, who composed
for most of Akira
Kurosawa's
latter-day films, the soundtrack also features themes
done by several large orchestras across Japan, such as
the Tokyo Metropolitan
Symphony Orchestra, giving it a more robust sound than
what's usually heard in Japanese cinema from the smaller
orchestras. Despite the measures taken, though, it's
probably unfortunate to know that the ending result for
the soundtrack is, like the movie, mixed.

I won't lie in saying that I had high hopes for the soundtrack.
I love Ikebe's score for Dreams (1990), and was disappointed
that this CD did not contain the same type of grandeur
that is displayed in that soundtrack, despite the sometimes
larger orchestra being incorporated. As it turns out,
the larger orchestra is also a problem here, at least
in regards to the CD as a whole. The reason for this
is that it's not consistent. Only six of the 22 tracks
are actually being conducted by these larger orchestras
(for reference, these are tracks 1, 8, 13, 16, 18
and 22). This
creates an almost clashing experience as you have very
minimally composed tracks like "Intelligence
II", which isn't very interesting to begin with,
juxtaposed against more
rousing and robust compositions like "The Document."
The other problem is that many tracks sound very similar
against each other, and these are easy to spot due to
the similar names for track titles such as the
Tokko (short for
Special Higher Police) cues.

In the end, what saves this CD are the
fleshed out compositions. This includes
"Title", "2.26: The Previous Night," "Summer
at the Grounds of Execution" and the previously
mentioned "The Document."
All of these sound wonderful, and it's a shame the rest
of the score doesn't match
this same level of presentation quality.
"Suliko" is also another interesting cue here,
although different from the rest in that it's a very
gothic track that has a slightly creepy yet beautiful
quality to it as it's done by a chorus -- the Tokyo Philharmonic
Chorus to be exact.
It's also worth mentioning the three cues on this disc
which aren't from Ikebe. One of these is the fairly uninteresting
"International" by Pierre C. Degeyter, which
just doesn't work as a stand alone piece, while another
is a Pipe Organ version of John Lennon's "Imagine",
which makes the music seem more apt for a teary funeral
than what the original uplifting song by Lennon
manages to invoke.
The final of these, and probably most interesting to
Toho fans, is
the "Rolling Titles" by none other than
Toru Takemitsu.
Yes, this score manages to feature both of Kurosawa's
composer stables for his later career, with Takemitsu
being best known for his work on Ran (1985).
Regrettably, this is a posthumous appearance, as Takemitsu
passed away in 1996, but the stock music, from Requiem
Pour Orchestre à Cordes, is well selected.
It certainly doesn't disappoint, as the theme
is a very haunting track and lets the CD end on a good
final note.

In closing, this ends up being a very uneven soundtrack.
There are a few good cues here, but they get bogged
down by the simpler and repeated themes found elsewhere
on an already short CD. If someone really likes Ikebe's
work, though, then this is probably still worth checking
out, although it doesn't get a strong recommendation
either way.